This article originally appeared in the 1975 issue (No. 27) of Creag Dhubh.
Chairman and Treasurer : ROBERT B. MACPHERSON
Vice-Chairman : JAMES MACPHERSON JARRETT
Secretary : SANDRA J. MACPHERSON
Membership Secretary : WILLIAM F. JARRETT
An announcement was made to members in January 1974 that we were being organised as the United States Branch. Our membership has grown satisfactorily during the year. We have a large potential in this country with over 30,000 with the name of Macpherson plus those named Cattanach, Gillies, Gillespie and Murdock with variants of that name. In addition there are many descendants of ancestors with our clan names. We look forward to continued growth in 1975 and future years.
We have named our quarterly communication Urlar for the 'theme' or ground of a piobaireachd. We shall keep in touch with each other by this means and through meetings at clan gatherings and our Rally.
Arlena and Robert MacPherson attended the Rally in Newtonmore and enjoyed meeting the cousins greatly as we have for a number of years. Betty and Jim Jarrett represented us and promoted our association at Clan Gatherings at Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina and Alexandria, Virginia.
Our First Annual Meeting and Rally was held on the weekend of October 25, 26 and 27. Those who were around Friday night got together for dinner at the Lord Jeffrey Inn in Amherst, Massachusetts. Around noon Saturday, forty-five members were welcomed by the music of the pipes to Piobair Farm for luncheon, including the haggis which was properly piped in and saluted by Jim Jarrett. Amateurish we may have been, but we enjoyed the ceremony and the haggis.
Our Annual Business Meeting elected the officers shown above for the year 1975. Action was taken on matters of concern to the members all according to 'Robert's' rules of order. After prolonged and intense subliminal suggestion, Ted McPherson (the senior partner in the largest law firm in Connecticut) volunteered to work on getting us incorporated as a tax exempt corporation.
For Saturday night we returned to the Lord Jeff for our Banquet and ceilidh and a lot of visiting and getting acquainted with our enjoyable family.
Sunday morning, as good 'Sons of the Parson', we attended and participated in the service of the Congregational Church in Belchertown. Afterward we had dinner (which included some leftovers from Saturday's luncheon) at Piobair Farm. We were particularly pleased to have Betty and Donald (Chairman, Canadian Branch) with us. The Canadian Branch has been supportive of their child (our branch) and we shalt be eternally grateful.